Yo boi, and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 125: Anxiety and Turn Back in which I misread things dramatically and I am concerned about where it’s going.
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Anxiety and Turn Back Summary
A “Bold” Plan
Nanamine reviews the footage of the last few weeks. His cratering rankings, Kosugi’s notes on PCP, and Ashirogi’s firm refusal to stoop to his level. If he doesn’t do something drastic soon, he’s going to be doomed. He has to do something.
He remembers the suggestion to beat PCP at its own game and use one of their stories before they do.
He decides to steal a manuscript from them.
A Jump’s editorial office, Miura and Aida are looking at a leaked screenshot of Nanamine’s chatroom as well as a message that Nanamine has used the advice of 50 people to create the manga. Both deny that something like this could happen. Miura thinks it’s just the rumor mill in action.
Kosugi arrives and Aida asks him about whether he knows about it. Hattori asks to be filled and Miura explains a rumor has propped up on the internet about Nanamine’s actual methodology.
What a fucking moron, Nanamine is.
Aida asks again if Kosugi knows about it.
Kosugi quotes Nanamine himself “it’s a revolutionary way to create manga”.
Hattori is horrified to see Kosugi openly admit it. Aida is furious to learn that not only is it true, but that Nanamine is engaging in something so profoundly stupid and Kosugi allowed it. Aida puts the pieces together and sees why the story is already nonsense five chapters in.
Aida forbids Kosugi from letting it continue. It would be one thing if it had been announced prior that this was the writing method, but it’s attributed to one author. He’s also worried about information leaks due to the anonymity of the creators. He’s going to bring it up at the serialization meeting next week.
Kosugi begs for Aida to let him handle the situation. Aida doesn’t believe he can do anything. Kosugi pulls out a transfer request.
Aida, even more panicked now swats it out of his hand and hides the request.
Kosugi doesn’t wnat to be transferred immediately; he’s giving Aida leverage in exchange for Aida keeping his mouth shut for the next meeting. He wants to change Nanamine’s minds about his methods (good luck with that buddy) first and fix their relationship. He recognizes the part he’s played in this situation and wants to fix it. If he can’t he will take full responsibility.
Aida reminds him that with Nanamine’s current rank he’s going to be brought up at the meeting regardless as a series to be cancelled. Kosugi understands, but he wants the opportunity to be Nanamine’s real editor, in both name and substance.
True to this series spirit, he has faith that Nanamine is capable of making a great manga; as his editor, Kosugi’s job is to realize that greatness. He recognizes that he’s asking for a lot given his “incompetence” (no, buddy, narcissist) but Nanamine’s destroying himself because his system is flawed and he can’t think for himself.
Ehhhhh….no. Wrong.
Aida agrees that the work is getting worse and Kosugi agrees that the method is terrible.
A beat.
Aida agrees not to bring it up Nanamine’s method at the meeting to cancel it. Kosugi thanks him.
Serialization
On Thursday, November 19th, Hattori fills the boys in on the events of the previous scene. Saiko wonders if “make things right” means working as a legit editor/manga duo. Hattori confirms it.
Shujin is skeptical that Nanamine can be so easily swayed (same bro). Hattori, however, is a little more optimistic: with Nanamine’s low ranking he’s dangling by a thread, so he should be doubting his methodology.
*cough* narcissism *cough*
Shujin mentions that that’s unlikely, given his request to run the same story in the magazine in both series. Hattori jumps at that and asks if they agreed.
They rationally and correctly did not. Hattori chews on this information and realizes Nanamine may be set in his ways.
On November 23, the serialization meeting happens. The editors decide to start serializing You Can’t Fool Me by Hiramaru (yay) and move on to discuss which series they will be ending.
Heishi mentions this will be a tough choice. One editor brings up poor Arai’s Paranoia Wielder Moshimo and Yoshida brings up What You Need: he argues that it’s going nowhere and they already have a glut of series set in a school. Hiramaru’s series has crossover with it.
Heishi agrees: they don’t know what direction the mangaka may choose to go in. Another editor points out it’s devolved into a deteriorated PCP (savage).
Aida awkwardly interjects: Kosugi has promised to improve the situation himself, so they should wait and see what he does. Kosugi and Nanamine both need experience, so they shouldn’t cancel the series just yet.
The meeting concludes and Yoshida informs his team that Hiramaru’s gotten the go ahead, and Arai’s done.
Arai’s poor nameless editor has a conniption at the news. Yamahisa doesn’t see the big deal: one new series and one cancelled on.
It was Arai’s third cancellation. Yamahisa gives him an apology.
Aida informs Kosugi that he’s kept the sword of Damocles dangling for the time being, but it will be cancelled next meeting even if it does move up a couple ranks. Yoshida bolts to tell Hiramaru about the new series.
At Hiramaru’s studio, Hiramaru is over the moon to have his series green lit only to be immediately devastated. Yoshdia prods him about where his enthusiasm went mid yayyy. He’s happy because of his promise to Aoki, but he remembers that he has to be a manga again. Yoshida thinks he should celebrate for at least an hour or so .
(LOL).
Hiramaru is upset because he won’t have time for tea time with Aoki. He has an idea; he just needs to marry her.
NO.
Yoshdia pulls out the *sigh* manipulation to get Hiramaru to pump out pages; they’re nothign but tea buddies right now and she’ll dump him if he asks for her hand in marriage.
Hiramaru falls for the bait hook, line, and sinker and starts churning out pages as if by magic. The ideas of pessimism flow through him. Yoshida laughs while commanding him to draw.
He has to defeat PCP
At Nanamine’s studio, Kosugi is unnerved by the lack of response from the studio. Nakai is annoyed by the doorbell but lets Kosugi in. Kosugi asks about Nanamine and Nakai mentions he’s shut himself in his room.
Oy.
Kosugi knocks on the door and decides to come in.
He finds Nanamine mumbling to himself. The chat room is abandoning him because the popularity dropped, some of his team uploaded chat logs onto the internet in retaliation, and he can no longer lie to them about the actual rank because they’ll see where it is in the magazine. He has to defeat PCP at all costs. It’s the only way to beat it.
Kosugi makes himself known and mentions that Nanamine narrowly avoided cacnellation but he’s in danger of getting cancelled at the next meeting. He and Kosugi need to discuss the series properly.
Nanamine isn’t listening.
Kosugi suggests that he stops competing against PCP; they have a stockpile of stories but his group is just giving him random stories with no plan behind them.
At that, Nanamine turns to him.
He looks horrible.
He commands Kosugi to go steal their storyboard, which is already complete.
Oy.
Kosugi resists but Nanamine sees his own logic as flawless: he’ll use their story before them and then they’ll be the ripoff artists. It’s the only way he can win.
Kosugi realizes Nanamine is too far gone now. With only beating Ashirogi on his mind, there is no way he can change his mind on process.
Kosugi urges Nanamine to calm down, but Nanamine is undeterred: he wants the storyboards.
Kosugi pushes him down forcefully to get him to calm down.
At that moment, Nakai walks in to watch the theatrics. He asks if everything is okay, and his special treatment will continue. He’ll be able to keep living there?
Nanamine confirms that he will.
Kosugi realizes that Nanamine is nuttier than squirrel shit and gets the hell out of dodge. He asks Nakai to move aside. But Nanamine has one last weapon to pull out: Kosugi is still his editor, right?
Kosugi stops in his tracks.
He offers to go to Ashirogi’s place. Nanamine thinsk he’s won, and asks him to hurry up. He tells Naaki to order a celebratory pizza. Nothing to worry about.
Kosugi heads to Shueisha. In and out.
The Battle Commences
At the studio, Ashirogi are surprised to hear the doorbell being ring, and even more surprised to find Kosugi.
Kosugi humbly begs them to compete against Nanamine using the same story in the same issue. The boys are shocked by the request and Kosugi explains that initially Nanamine wanted him to steal their boards. He’s totally lost touch with reality. He’s talented by he’s not going to progress unless he learns how wrong headed he is. Kosugi wants the boys to break the spell.
Kosugi offers that it doesn’t have to be storyboards, just an outline of the story they are planning to use. He promises to prevent Nanamine from using it before them and he will take responsibility to ensure it’s in the same issue as theirs.
Shujin and Saiko are – uinderstandably – concerned about the editorial department’s response to all of this.
Kosugi confirms that he got the go-ahead from both Sasaki and Hattori before going ahead with this. Hattori persuaded the editor-in-chief to let them compete face to face. He also was given a message from Hattori: prove they’re in a different league than him.
Shujin grins in excitement: he was hoping for an outcome like this when he heard about it but was concrned becuse it might cause problems. But they can compete aaginst him no problem now. But now they’re excited to beat him in a real match fair and square.
At Nanamine’s studio Kosugi returns: he couldn’t get the storyboards but they told him a rough outline of the story arc and the number of issues and when it will start.
Kosugi warns him: they will have to do it in the same issue and he’ll stop him if he tries to do it ahead of them. He also tells him that if he loses, Kosugi and he will creates a series from that point forward. Nanamine is shocked, but announces he’s glad for the first time that Kosugi is his editor.
Jesus, what an asshole.
Nanamine gets back in the chat room. he has twenty “loyal” advisors. He’s confident that he will win.
With a demonic gleam, Nnamine explains the prompt to his writers: they’re dropping the current story for a story about the main characters helping a student win a seemingly impossible presidential election. He’s confident that he’ll make a comeback with this information.
On that worrying note, the chapter concludes.
Anxiety and Turn Back Reaction
Here we go
To peek behind the curtains for a bit.
When I do these read-throughs I actually have to read the chapter twice: once to just read it and get my thoughts, and then a second time while i’m working on the recap.
While my thoughts usually stay consistent from the first read to the second, sometimes they can be radically altered during the summary process because in summarizing, I’m forced to slow down to accurately jot down what I’m reading. And in this case, my read on this chapter DRAMATICALLY changed when I re-read it.
And it was such a significant change that I included the panels which actually made me realize I had read the chapter wrong initially.
Initially, I thought Kosugi was lying to the boys about talking to the editors in a purely manipulative tactic to get the outline for their idea to him and to feed it to Nanamine. I thought Kosugi had actually been totally beaten down by his increasingly deluded ward (which we’ll get to, don’t worry).
And I was going to go off on Kosugi and, to some extent, admire the climactic descent into total darkness. That would have been DARK.
But then I saw the four panel spread that I included in this read-through and I realized he had actually gone to Shueisha and it was offscreened. It’s super subtle too. He goes to Shueisha’s at sometime in the morning and leaves sometime at night. Which means he was probably talking about the situation for hours. It’s a lowkey piece of storytelling. But it’s also blink and you miss it type thing.
I don’t know if that was the most effective way of conveying this information, but it did color my perception of this chapter a lot. Because it confirms that Kosugi is going to try and pull a shonen manga trope: save the bad guy.
So, on the one hand, it’s good for Kosugi to have guts; on the other.
Ughhhhhh.
Also, read your manga slowly, folks. Take it panel by panel. Read the sound effects. I sometimes read too fast and lose so much of the experience as a result. But in this case, slow reading changed my perception of the story entirely.
In any event.
Nanamine is Collapsing, and It’s Glorious
Nanamine is having a full-on collapse into unreality. It’s not a narcissistic collapse, but he’s clearly losing it in dramatic manga fashion, and I am here for it.
It does make me uncomfortable, if only because I have some manner of empathy, but he’s become truly contemptible as things have gotten worse and worse, and now we’re at the apogee (mmm, good word) of this particular arc, and he is truly in the shit. And he’s not handling it well.
But I’d really like to call attention to Obata’s art in this case. Because it feels like a lot of the crazier parts of Death Note. The exaggerated villainous smile, the weird camera angles. All the black.
This is where the fact that Bakuman is knowingly engaging in a metafictional story pays HUGE dividends. I am contractually obligated to discuss how the technic affects the story. But in this case it should be fairly obvious.
Because the story is about a Light Yagami character and the story has turned into a more morally ambiguous narrative, the art reflects it. There are other influences on the art – which the artists have discussed – that have made it more fluid and sustainable, but we’re really in Nanamine’s POV for the most part and he’s in a truly dark place right now.
Even though no one’s dying, these poses, these blacks, and this story are all communicating real darkness. Not to mention Nanamine’s character design has also been subtly changed.
If you review this chapter you’ll note that the character has become thinner and has bags under his eyes and that inside his room it’s always dark. He really is going off the deep end and not taking care of himself which is in line with his increasingly crazy demands to steal Ashirogi’s storyboard. He’s desparate and cornered and willing to do some insane shit to achieve his goal.
But not only that–
His methodology has almost completely failed
Even though it’s not done yet – there are people still in the chat room and he still has Nakai – it’s very clear that within the next few chapters it will evaporate, or it will be done. But in the most significant ways, his method has failed.
Good.
Again, I’m polarized strongly against narcissists – even fictional ones – and his being unable to accept that he’s failing, falling deeper into denial, and going to more extreme methods to maintain control is satisfying. But so is the obvious fact that the chatroom has turned on him.
The biggest evidence of this is the part where it leaks into the editorial office. That the rumor mill has spread so far and so damagingly makes this feel like a real comeuppance. That Kosugi doesn’t care what happens to his ward reinforces how much Nanamine has done nothing to keep himself above water.
And then there’s the fact that the defectors continue in the chatroom at pace. The only person who is sticking with him is Nakai, and that’s purely because of his special treatment.
Nanamine truly has no allies. And on some level, he’s probably aware of it.
I will say, on a brief tangent, that I find Aida’s logic about why it’s wrong kinda funny, if not entirely out of left field: it’s a matter of attribution. It implies that if Nanamine had been upfront about his method, the magazine might have run it. But because he’s the only author on the manga, he’s going to have to eat much more shit for it.
In any event. I do feel kinda bad for Nanamine in the sense that he’s truly up against the wall, and he’s not able to handle failure at all, so he’s going progressively more insane. But that does bring me to the climax of this arc which is–
Breaking the Suspension of Disbelief
While Bakuman is a manga and, therefore, usually not subject to the rules of the real world, even by those standards this whole final battle is pushing the bounds of believability.
I’ve liked this arc for its dabbling in the faintly unreal, but I don’t believe for a second that Shueisha would willingly go along with something so insane in real life. It would be grounds for so many potential lawsuits and the risks to the mangaka and the magazine’s reputation would be too great for them to willingly consider it.
Which is why I initially took it out on Kosugi (poor guy) and thought he was lying to get the boys to give him the outline.
But yeah. This is kinda goofy. And we know Nanamine is cooked, so I don’t see what could even happen here that will truly snap Nanamine out of this.
Now. Could it happen? I guess. If circumstnaces were really dire and they believed this asset was soooo good and would bring so much potntial readership to the magazine that they could justify the reptutational hit.
But unless they saw the next Demon Slayer or next One Piece (more era appropriate) I sincerely doubt they would actually let this happen.
But also, given the series does acknowledge that Jump does care about its mangaka’s well being – at least to a certain extent – ehhhhh, maybe.
But more than my suspension of disbelief being frustrated by this particular plot contrivance to have a final direct battle between the boys and the villain, the other thing that’s chapping my ass is:
Saving Nanamine
Yeahhhhh, if they actually pull this narrative trick with him, I’m not going to drop the manga – I’m too invested – but I’m definitely going to be very fucking annoyed.
I know I’ve beat it into the ground re: Nanamine is a giant narcissist, but the other element to narcissism that this series is neglecting, and it’s real important, is that narcissists are not capable of change. I already said that, but let me say it again.
I’ve mentioned this in previous read-throughs as well, but a key feature of the personality disorder – which is what I’m discussing, not your garden variety narcissism that everyone has to a degree – is that it is pretty impenetrable to outside influence. In fact, as much as I support therapy as a practice and believe everyone should use therapy to better themselves, Narcissists are notoriously difficult to treat through therapy because one of the key elements of therapy is validating someone’s lived experience.
If Nanamine demonstrated even the slightest willingness to change, it’d be one thing.
And this is actually where Nakai becomes a useful comparison, even though he’s still at his worst in this arc. There are narrative moments where Nakai is faced with something that conflicts with his worldview. And this is something you see in manga a lot. It’s a narrative tip-off that someone is in the process of having an epiphany.
There are reaction shots. Usually horror. But also various facial expressions where a character sees something happening that they don’t want to admit, and they have a second where it actually penetrates. Saiko probably has the most of these reaction shots because he’s the protagonist and he’s meant to have epiphanies as part of his character development. Just protagonist things.
Nakai has had several of these moments in the last few chapters: when he goes to see Aoki and when he sees Nanamine’s chat room. And even though his response has been uniformly terrible – eating away his feelings and cursing Aoki forever – at the same time, he has had those moments where he thinks to himself, “This isn’t right”.
That is the essential element of someone capable of change. And Nanamine has not had a single moment of reflection like that.
My fear is that, because this is a shonen manga, Kosugi’s going to succeed in convincing Nanamine to change his ways and become a better, more legit mangaka and make them a team. and if that’s the case…that’ll send a really bad message to people about the ability for narcissists to change their behavior.
And I need to make this clear because I am laying into narcissists here, but narcissists aren’t totally incapable of changing for the better and becoming better people. But they very regularly don’t because that requires them to admit to themselves that their worldview is wrong, somehow, and that they aren’t the hottest shit on the planet. And that is a really challenging thing for them to do. So it almost never happens.
And people who try to change narcissists often get sucked into their bullshit and suffer for it. It’s like trying to save a drowning man: you might save them, but you’re probably going to cause more harm than good if you do, and you’re just as likely to drown because of all the flailing.
But this is a Shonen manga, so there is a very strong likelihood that Jump will not go the route I would prefer – total annihilation of Nanamine and Nakai and removal from manga completely – and something a little more shonen-y where they get saved.
I hope that doesn’t happen. And it may not, but I’d be foolish not to acknowledge it.
I do like that Ashirogi is far less certain that this is even feasible, given what they know of Nanamine. It’s a bit more realistic.
Speaking of them-
Ohba’s Interests, Hiramaru, and Arai
Yeah, so again, this is the Nanamine show, and we’re all in it. But the boys are here, playing the reaction team again. And I have to say, it’s interesting to see how Shujin functions as a mouthpiece for Ohba.
Ohba’s history as a storyteller has always leaned towards moral ambiguity, and the idea that Shujin is excited by a direct confrontation is an interesting little nugget. Ohba is telling on himself here. He would be cool with something like this, which is why he’s including it.
I have a feeling that Ohba has not been totally jazzed about how comparatively lighthearted this series has been and in his heart of hearts he has wanted an arc like this for a while. Because he’s going so hard for it. But making manga isn’t the most brutal and awful of professions so he’s stuck.
However, there are some other brutalities in this chapter.
I continue to be ambivalent about the Hiramaru subplot. On the one hand, Hiramaru is going overboard with his pessimism (even though it is in character), and it’s played for laughs – and I kinda get a chuckle out of being so pessimistic he shits out great manga pages – but eh, it’s not great. I guess he and Aoki are just tea buddies for realzies.
And then there’s Arai.
This is interesting because it’s something that, if you’ve been around the block, you’ve probably heard. But there is a three strike policy in Jump: if you have three series cancelled in the magazine you will never be allowed to work for them again. Arai has had three cancellations in the magazine, so he’s been axed.
What’s interesting is that the manga confirms that this is a real thing by saying it straight up, and having it happen off-screen is brutal. Granted, Arai has only appeared in like 5ish panels, it didn’t warrant on on-screen thing. But he’s one of the few consistently named mangaka outside of Team Fukuda, so it actually hit that we’re not going to see his name again. and it really underscores the unique ways in which manga IS brutal.
But that does mean something interesting: are the boys going to be barred from Jump if PCP gets cancelled?
We still have Chekhov’s Cancellation from Eiji. And if my guess is true – that Eiji is goign to pull the trigger on their series so they can start a new one which will be animatable – is that even feasible?
I guess it depends on whether Jump counts Tanto as a cancellation or an official ending. If it’s an official ending that could happen; if it’s a cancellation, well, they have to hope they get to end PCP on their terms.
But that is neither here nor there.
Do I think Nanamine is goign to win? No. do I think he will be saved? I hope not.
But we’ll have to find out in the next chapter.
Until then,
Peace
